Burlington Central's rally not in time for win

The Rockets found their shooting touch a bit too late. Mark Mastio led a spirited fourth-quarter comeback, but Burlington Central dug itself too big a hole and fell to Sycamore, 74-67, in the Class 3A Burlington Central boys basketball regional Monday night.

The Rockets finished the game on a 15-5 run, with Mastio accounting for 8 of the points. A 3-pointer by Mike Doty made it 72-67 with 7.1 seconds left, but that was as close as the Rockets got. Michael Buckner made 2 free throws for the final margin.

Mastio scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. The 5-foot-6 guard also had 6 rebounds.

Matt McCurdy scored 15 points, Doty finished with 14 and Ray Hunnicutt added 9 points for the Rockets, who finish the season at 12-14.

The Spartans led by as many as 17 points before the Rockets began their comeback.

"We were 22 of 66 from the field, that's the game right there," said Central coach Chris Payne. "I'm not a mathemetician, but that's 33 percent and that's not good."

Sycamore led 24-21 at halftime, but broke the game open by hitting 11 of 16 third-quarter shots to lead 53-38. After Shane Larkin scored to make it 24-23, the Spartans scored the next 10 points.

Payne noted that suuch inconsistency plagued the Rockets all season

"In the first half, I thought we defended pretty well, but didn't shoot well," he said. "In the second half, we shot a little bit better and then didn't defend very well."

Harlan Johnson with 18 points led 4 Spartans in double figures. Kyle Szychlinski scored 15, Buckner finished with 13, and Shane Carnahan added 12.

The Rockets forced 16 turnovers while committing just 5 and were outrebounded by only 5 by the taller Spartans. But 8-for-30 first-half shooting proved to be too much to overcome.